A liquid desiccant dehumidification cooling system is a promising, energy-saving, high-efficiency, environmentally friendly technology that maintains thermal comfort effectively indoors by utilizing renewable energy sources or waste heat to enhance system efficiency. In this research, a small-scale (6 kW cooling capacity) hybrid liquid desiccant air-conditioning system (HLDAC) is proposed to evaluate the dehumidification performance of a non-corrosive potassium formate (KCOOH) solution. For this, four input parameters, namely, inlet air flow rate, inlet desiccant temperature, inlet desiccant concentration, and inlet specific air humidity, were selected. Moreover, the different combinations of experiments were designed by employing response surface methodology (RSM) to evaluate the dehumidification performance parameters, namely, dehumidifier latent heat load, coefficient of performance of hybrid system, and moisture removal rate (MRR). Further, a comparative performance analysis between the hybrid system and a standalone vapor compression system (VCS) unit was carried out. The result showed a remarkable increase in coefficient of performance, which was observed at about 28.48% over the standalone VCS unit. Furthermore, the economic assessment of the proposed hybrid system is presented in this paper. Finally, from the economic analysis, it was concluded that the hybrid system had a payback time of 2.65 years compared to the VCS unit.
Conventional air conditioners (AC) operate on vapor compression refrigeration (VCR) technology, which is a heavy consumer of electricity, and the used refrigerants harm the environment. In humid and hot areas, a liquid desiccant AC system integrated with a VCR system has been proposed as a better alternative to traditional standalone VCR system, as it is an energy-efficient system that can remove latent air load, air pollutants from the processed air, and it is energy-saving. In this study, a hybrid liquid desiccant air conditioning (LDAC) system with a capacity of 5.5 kW was designed and developed by integrating these two different technologies, and the vapor pressure of potassium formate (KCOOH) solution at different solution temperatures and concentrations were monitored experimentally to determine the optimal concentration range. Moreover, a comparative study was conducted to analyze the dehumidification performance of lithium chloride (LiCl) and KCOOH solutions. Experiments are designed by using Minitab 19 software, which employs the design of an experimental technique through full factorial design by considering four variables, namely, type of desiccant, inlet air flow rate, inlet desiccant temperature, and inlet air humidity. To study and compare dehumidification characteristics of both solutions, three responses were considered, i.e., the coefficient of performance of a hybrid system, the heat load of dehumidifier, and specific humidity change. Experimental results revealed that 70% of KCOOH solution exhibited comparable vapor pressure to that of 36% LiCl solution. Additionally, the dehumidification ability of the KCOOH solution was better than that of the LiCl solutions.
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